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MND affects nerve cells located in the brain and spine, that instruct your muscle tissue how to function.

This leads them to weaken and become rigid over time and typically impacts your walking, talk, consume food and respire.

It is a quite uncommon condition that is most frequent in individuals above age fifty, but grown-ups of all ages can be affected.

A person's chance in their life of contracting MND is 1 out of 300.

Approximately five thousand adults in the UK are living with the disease at any given moment.

Scientists are uncertain what causes MND, but it is likely to be a combination of the genes - or inherited characteristics - you inherit from your mother and father when you are delivered, and additional lifestyle factors.

For up to 10% of individuals with MND, specific genes are far more significant.

There is usually a family history of the illness in such instances.

Identifying the Early Symptoms of the Condition?

MND impacts each person uniquely.

Not all individuals has the same symptoms, or experiences them in the same order.

The disease can advance at different speeds too.

Among the most frequent indicators are:

• loss of muscle strength and cramps
• rigid articulations
• problems with your speech
• complications involving ingesting, eating and taking fluids
• reduced cough reflex

Is There a Cure?

No definitive treatment, but there is hope stemming from treatments focused on different forms of MND.

MND is not a single illness - it is actually several that culminate in the demise of nerve cells.

A new drug called tofersen is effective in just 2% of patients, however it has been demonstrated to slow - and in some cases even reverse - a portion of the manifestations of MND.

It has been described as "truly remarkable" and a "significant point of optimism" for the whole disease.

Although the drug has recently been approved in the EU, it is not yet available in the UK.

Just one pharmaceutical presently approved for the treatment of MND in the UK and endorsed by the NHS.

Riluzole may slow down the progression of the disease and prolong life by a few months, but it cannot repair damage.

Determining Survival Rate for MND?

Some people can survive for decades with MND, such as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was identified at the twenty-two years old and lived to 76.

But for the majority, the illness progresses quickly and survival time is only several years.

According to the charity MND Association, the disease kills a one-third of individuals within a year and more than half within two years of identification.

As the nerve cells stop working, ingestion and respiration become more challenging and numerous individuals need feeding tubes or breathing apparatus to help them remain living.

Are Athletes More Likely to Be Diagnosed?

The exact cause has not been identified, but top-level sportspeople seem disproportionately affected by MND.

A pair of research projects from 2005 and 2009 showed that soccer players have an elevated chance of contracting MND.

Research from 2022 by the Glasgow University involving 400 ex- Scotland rugby athletes determined they had an increased risk of acquiring the disease.

Scientists also found that rugby athletes who have experienced multiple concussions have physiological variations that may make them more prone to contracting MND.

The MND Association acknowledges there is a "correlation" between contact sports and MND.

It added that while the sportspeople studied were more likely to acquire MND, it did not prove the athletic activities directly caused the disease.

The organization also stresses that "documented MND cases in this research is still relatively low, and so concluding there is a certain elevated chance could be misinterpreted if this is merely a cluster due to random chance".

Multiple high-profile sports figures have been diagnosed with the condition in recent years.

This encompasses ex- rugby union internationals, footballers, and cricketers.

Across the Atlantic, baseball player Lou Gehrig died from the condition aged 39.